What I Know About Resistance, Transformations, and Getting Started

Lessons learned from painting nearly every surface in our house.

Paper collage / photograph on digital ground

Welcome (or welcome back!) to Multifaceted, a weekly newsletter about finding delight and direction in a creative life made up of many different interests.

I just finished painting the biggest room in our house. 

Yep, it was a lot of work – but the transformation was worth it. Being immersed in a hands-on, meditative activity for hours on end was a welcome change of pace, too.

Most of the times I’ve painted rooms, I’ve done so in good company – me cutting in, Chris (my husband) rolling. This time, he did two days of prep work (removing trim, peeling off wallpaper, patching holes) and then it was my turn. 

So, it was a solitary project. Luckily, it took place over two beautiful spring days. Just me and my trusty DIY gear.

I threw the windows open and let the scent of lilacs drown out the fresh paint smell. The sun poured in and shimmered over the glossy third coat as it dried, confirming my suspicion that Benjamin Moore’s Alabaster was, in fact, the right white.

My soundtrack alternated between Arc de Soleil, feel-good oldies, and twittering bird songs.

I had loads of time to myself to just think.

I’ve written about how carving out quiet time to think is one of the best things to do for your creativity. It’s a pretty rare pastime in a culture that glorifies being busy while filling every spare second with a digital deluge of other people’s thoughts and ideas.

As the paint roller slooshed up and down (and up and down…), it was nice to let my mind wander for a while. I started reflecting on all the past painting projects we’ve done around the house. As it turns out, I’ve learned a lot of lessons from those experiences that are relevant not just to painting a room but to creativity generally.

Here are my top takeaways from painting half a dozen rooms’ worth of walls, ceilings, windows, doors, trim, and floors.

Creative transformations take time

Short-form video content makes it easy to forget just how much time and effort big changes require.

Instagram, TikTok, and – yes – those cheesy HGTV shows make total home makeovers look instant. But our painting project took four full days – and that was just the walls! 

There’s not much instant gratification to be found in a real, meaningful transformation. This is true for creative projects, and it extends to personal transformations too. If you’re trying to redefine your multifaceted identity, a little patience will go a long way because it won’t happen overnight. 

Resistance will always throw a tantrum

As the sun set on my first long day of painting, I just wanted to eat tacos and then curl up on the couch. But I had a little bit left to finish. 

Even before my dinner break began, I could feel the resistance coming on strong. Ugh.

They key is in knowing how to overcome it. 

First, I let my resistance have its little tantrum – “I don’t want to go back in there all by myself… It's dark! I'm tired! Do I have to??” Yes, I sounded like a grumpy child, whining and flopping my arms around. Yes, it’s embarrassing! But it didn’t last long. 

Next, I asked my (very understanding) husband to keep me company for a few minutes while I got started back up again. The second I stepped back up on the ladder and picked up my trusty brush, I felt great. Something clicked and I was right back in the flow – and happy to be there! 

If I hadn’t been able to let the resistance get out of my system and fizzle out, I might still be crouched in a corner, halfway through the second coat.

You might be just as good as (if not better than) the professionals

During our first year in our house, we painted quite a few rooms ourselves but enlisted professional help in two other spaces.

One was the dining room. The team we hired did a beautiful job with the deep, velvety green. I still don’t know how they got the line between the dark wall and white ceiling so crisp. They also took care of the living room and dealt with the ladder-on-the-stairs-over-historic-woodwork stuff.

But… they missed a few spots on the ceiling. They left paint roller blobs on a few window and door frames. And they missed a whole slice of a corner that bugs me whenever I walk past it. 

When I’m painting, I pay really close attention to those small details. But I’m not up for some of the challenges they took on. 

I take this as a reminder that us amateurs might be better than we think. Our skills and creative contributions may have more value than we think. And, once we take a stab at a new creative process, it might not be as intimidating as it once seemed. 

Simultaneously, the professionals we tend to put up on pedestals might not be as brilliant and flawless as they seem. 

This might be an unpopular opinion. But, in my experience, the folks who gatekeep creative processes are more insecure than they are extraordinary. 

The right tools and techniques do make a difference

As multifaceted creatives, we like to try new things. This often means picking up a new batch of supplies whenever a new interest arises. Budget buys are great for getting started. I’ve never been a fan of saying you have to buy this special paper and those fancy brushes – or any kind of high-grade products – when you’re feeling things out.

But if you have a specific goal in mind or a level of quality you want to achieve, the right tools can help you accomplish what you want with less frustration. 

The right tools are all about making the process easier and more successful. I don’t tape around the edges or trim when painting a room, so the perfect brush has spared me lots of drips and blobs. 

Just don’t forget that you need the right techniques to go with the tools, too. Buying a fancy brush and using it incorrectly won’t get you the right results. So that takes me to the next point…

You can learn virtually any creative skill on the Internet

It’s all out there! People give out some of their best tips and tricks for free if you dig deep enough. It’s literally never been easier to get started with a new skill or craft. 

If you’ve been putting off starting or finishing something because you don’t know how to do it, well, that’s not a great excuse. This is your sign to find what you need and try it out.

I learned everything about painting floors, doors, trim, and windows from a few detailed YouTube videos. And this brings me to the next point…

If you have something to share, share it! It could have a bigger impact than you’d expect 

We painted the windows and trim (and ceiling!) in my home office black. It looks SO cool. But I was baffled by the question of how to paint all sides of both window sashes without letting the paint dry the whole thing shut. That is, until I came across a years-old video from some guy in the Netherlands whose tutorial showed me exactly what I needed to know. It seemed kind of obscure, but it made my project possible.

So, if there’s something you want to share, you never know who it might end up helping down the line. Whether it’s a creative how-to, a personal story, or an artwork, put it out there!

Vanity metrics like clicks, views, likes, and other signs of fleeting engagement should matter less to us than the untrackable results – the tangible differences our work makes in other peoples’ lives.

Some passions are better left as hobbies 

I love having a house I can paint and decorate to my heart’s desire. House Beautiful is my go-to magazine – and home decor accounts make up the better half of my Instagram feed. 

Like many multi-passionate people, I’m always toying with ideas for turning creative hobbies into side hustles. And there’s so much potential when it comes to DIYs and decor… so, what if I…?

But after a tiring week of grunt work, would I really want to scurry up and down ladders and slosh paint around every day as a home improvement content queen? 

Absolutely not!

Some projects are best enjoyed in small doses. We can take the hustle-culture pressure off every single creative activity and get back to creating for pleasure alone.

This gives us space and time to enjoy the process — and maybe think for a while, too.

Catch you next week!